Department for Transport

Railways: North of England

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to begin a new levelling up assessment of the Integrated Rail Planwith Transport for the North.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) was underpinned by a clear evidence base, as set out in the technical annex. This analysis drew on some of Transport for the North’s (TfN) own work on Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), and provided an assessment of the options considered against the IRP’s strategic objectives. The economic impact of each option can be considered fundamentally from the journey times, connectivity, and capacity set out in the multi-criteria tables. TfN will continue to provide strategic advice to the Department in its role as NPR co-sponsor to support the Government’s ambitions to level-up the country. Levelling up is both a strategic and economic objective of the NPR programme and will be further assessed in the NPR Strategic Outline Business Case.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Horizon Europe

Lord Stevens of Birmingham: To ask Her Majesty's Government by what date they expect British universities to have a definitive answer as to whether the UK has succeeded in formally associating with the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

Lord Callanan: The UK stands ready to formalise our association to Horizon Europe at the earliest opportunity. At the recent EU-UK Specialised Committee the EU confirmed they were unwilling to move on UK association due to broader political issues. We continue to push the EU, by whatever means possible, to formalise our association but the EU is not living up to the commitments it made in 2020. We recognise that delays by the EU have led to uncertainty for researchers, businesses and innovators based in the UK, including British Universities. To provide reassurance the Government has guaranteed funding for the first wave of eligible, successful applicants to Horizon Europe. Given the EU’s persistence in delaying our association, it is only right and responsible that we are prepared for all outcomes, including one where we are not able to associate. Our priority is to support UK researchers and provide immediate stability and continuity for the sector. To this end, we are developing a coherent, compelling and high-quality programme to provide the fellowships, collaborations and industry engagement so valued in Horizon.

Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Schools

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination programme for children in order to prevent school absences.

Lord Kamall: School-aged children aged 12 years old and over are receiving COVID-19 vaccinations in schools through the School Age Immunisation Service (SAIS) and in community settings. To accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations in schools, the National Health Service has been working to increase the scale and pace of delivery, as well as targeting communications to parents, young people and the public to improve uptake and increase overall confidence in the programme.On 13 December 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to local health systems on offering a second dose to 12 to 15 year olds. This set out preparations for the winter break offer in out of school settings and the spring term offer for readiness from 10 January 2022 in school settings. The letter set out steps to ensure that SAIS providers and NHS systems have sufficient capacity to vaccinate children in school; there are settings outside of school where children can receive their vaccinations if necessary; there are appropriate vaccination opportunities to cater for different vaccination timelines; and the vaccination workforce has received appropriate training. A copy of the letter is attached.As of 31 January 2022, at-risk children under 12 years old who are prioritised for COVID-19 vaccination are being offered the vaccine in out of school settings.Second phase for children and young people aged 12 (pdf, 143.7KB)

Integrated Care Systems: Public Appointments

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether NHS England, in its guidance to the NHS on the appointment of members to Integrated Care Boards, will ask for a rerun of local authority appointments so that local authority members will have an opportunity for appointment.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether NHS England will consider local authority members for appointment to the Chairs of Integrated Care Boards.

Lord Kamall: The minimum membership of integrated care boards (ICBs) includes at least one member from the local authority or local authorities with statutory social care responsibility whose area falls partly or wholly within the area of the ICB. Appointments, or designate appointments, for these ICB board members have not yet been made.A process has taken place to identify intended ICB chairs, or designate chairs, in preparation for establishment of ICBs. These appointments are anticipated to be confirmed following the completion of the passage of the Health and Care Bill. Individuals with a role in any health and care organisation in a particular area are not eligible for these independent chair roles due to perceived or actual conflicts of interest. This exclusion is not specific to local authority members and applies to anyone with a role in a local health or care organisation.

Dental Services

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) NHS dentists, and (2) NHS dental practices, for each of the last five years.

Lord Kamall: The information requested on the number of practices providing National Health Service dentistry is not held centrally. However, the following table shows the number of dentists undertaking activity on behalf of the NHS and the number of dental contracts in each year since 2017/18. Year NHS dentists NHS contracts2017/18 24,308 8,5262018/19 24,545 8,4792019/20 24,684 8,4082020/21 23,733 8,3052021/22 N/A 8,341 Information on the number of dentists providing NHS care in 2021/22 is expected to be published in the third quarter of 2022/23.

Cheltenham General Hospital: Accident and Emergency Departments

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reinstate a 24-hour accident and emergency department at Cheltenham General Hospital.

Lord Kamall: Since 2013, Cheltenham General Hospital’s accident and emergency (A&E) department has been a consultant-led service from 8am to 8pm and led by specialist emergency nurse practitioners overnight. This arrangement ensured the continuation of high quality care for patients in Gloucestershire. The current model was recently confirmed as part of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s public consultation on the reconfiguration of services.

Department for Education

Free School Meals

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand the eligibility criteria for free school meals to all children whose parents are on universal credit.

Baroness Barran: Eligibility for free school meals (FSM) has been extended several times. Under the benefits-based criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming FSM, which saves families around £400 per year. The government spends around £600 million per year ensuring an additional 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant FSM policy in 2014.We think it is important that FSM support is targeted at those that need it most, and FSM is an integral part of our provision for families on low incomes, and our wider actions to promote social mobility.In 2018, the government introduced new eligibility criteria for families on Universal Credit, following a consultation in 2017. It is estimated that this will be more generous in its reach by 2022, in comparison to the legacy benefit system. Further to this we included generous protections, which mean any family eligible for FSM transitioning to Universal Credit from a legacy benefit will continue to have access to FSM even if they move above the earnings threshold.The government will publish a Food Strategy in early 2022. This will consider the evidence of Henry Dimbleby’s review of the food system and build on existing work across government to identify new opportunities to make the food system healthier, more sustainable, more resilient, and more accessible for those across the UK.

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Driving Instruction

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether HGV drivers who have independently acquired a provisional HGV licence and passed the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence modules one and two are eligible to enrol on a recognised course to complete the training.

Baroness Barran: Skills Bootcamps in Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) driving cover all parts of the training pathway to become a HGV driver. This includes the cost of an HGV medical exam, provisional HGV licence, a theory test, and the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence modules one and two if required. The department is aware that some learners have chosen to complete at least one of these elements of the training pathway themselves before applying for a place with a Skills Bootcamps supplier, for example by taking an HGV medical exam, applying for a provisional licence, or completing the theory test.To ensure that individuals who have already completed some elements of the Skills Bootcamps in the HGV driving training pathway have the chance to secure a training place, we have informed suppliers they should consider applications from such individuals where places are available.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Lord Baker of Dorking: To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the levels of student absenteeism in secondary schools in England for each week in the current academic year.

Baroness Barran: The department publishes official absence figures on a termly basis. There is no equivalent available on a weekly basis. However, data is published on pupil on-site attendance in schools and COVID-19-related absences split by phase of education. Data since the start of the academic year can be found on the ‘Explore education statistics’ GOV.UK page here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/explore-education-statistics.In the attached file, overall on-site attendance and COVID-19-related absence for secondary schools is provided. Figures are given for the Thursday of each week (excluding holiday dates) since the start of the academic year in line with figures published in the fortnightly publication, ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic’, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.HL6112_table (pdf, 70.8KB)

Education: Standards

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks byBaroness Barran on 21 October (HL Deb col 381), what progress they have made on the education sector certification scheme.

Baroness Barran: The department has now finalised the programme of work and anticipate that we will be placing a copy of the work in the House of Lords Library by the end of March 2022.

History: Education

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to adopt theCouncil of Europe's recommendation to "includethe history of Roma and Travellers in school curricula and teaching materials", published in their list of recommendations on 1 July 2020; and what plans they have to make the teaching mandatory and educate those unaware of the genocide of the Roma population in the Holocaust.

Baroness Barran: The history curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to use specific examples from history to teach pupils about the history of Britain and the wider world.Gypsy, Roma and Travellers’ history can already be taught as part of schools offering a broad and balanced curriculum. Resources are available from experts in the communities themselves and bodies such as the Historical Association.As part of Holocaust education, which is the only compulsory topic in the history curriculum at key stage 3, a wide array of resources are available to help teachers explain the persecution by the Nazis of different groups of people. The Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz programme and the knowledge and training provided by University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education include information and resources to support an understanding of the Holocaust and the Nazis’ persecution of other non-Jewish groups, including the genocide of the Roma.

Pupils: Identification

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, when admitted to mainstream schools, pupils receive a Unique Pupil Number; and if so, how this number is used to track the educational journey of a child.

Baroness Barran: Unique pupil numbers (UPNs) are allocated to pupils at the point of first entry into the state funded school sector. This is usually when a pupil joins a nursery or primary school, including joining nursery classes in a primary school. It can also be when a pupil enters the state funded school sector later in their school career.UPNs are primarily used to facilitate the transfer of school-based education and attainment data through the state funded school system in England. The system enables accurate and timely data sharing between schools or academies, local authorities and central government and enable the operational and analytical longitudinal linking of education data throughout a pupil’s school career.For example, UPNs allow us to link data provided by schools and local authorities via statutory data collections, such as the school census, to attainment data from awarding bodies. This provides the department, education providers, Parliament and the wider public with a clear picture of how the education and children’s services sectors are working. This helps these sectors to better target and evaluate policy interventions to help ensure all children are kept safe from harm and receive the best possible education.

Education: Standards

Lord Baker of Dorking: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the 55 Education Investment Areas have surplus school places.

Lord Baker of Dorking: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, if there are surplus school places available in the Education Investment Areas, new specialist sixth form free schools will be allowed to be established there.

Baroness Barran: The department publishes school place planning estimates as part of the school capacity official statistics publication, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity.This contains estimates of future school place shortfalls and surpluses. This data was last published in May 2019 and covered the place planning estimates for mainstream school places in year groups from reception to year 11. The department will be publishing updated school capacity official statistics at the end of March 2022.Identification of forecast need is carried out at planning area level. This means that within a local authority there may be planning areas forecasting a surplus and others forecasting a need for additional places. Based on the data published in May 2019, an estimated 53,000 primary places and 77,000 secondary places were needed across England to meet demand for academic year 2023/24. Around 17,000 of these primary places and 25,000 of these secondary places are in Education Investment Areas.The need for places will be an important consideration in determining whether new free schools will be approved and opened. The department will set out more details on the future free school programme in due course.

Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education: Directors

Lord Baker of Dorking: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many members of the Board of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education have themselvesundertaken an apprenticeship.

Baroness Barran: This is a matter for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. I have asked its Chief Executive, Jennifer Coupland, to write to my noble Friend and a copy of this reply will be placed in the libraries of both Houses when it is available.

Languages: Secondary Education

Lord Baker of Dorking: To ask Her Majesty's Government which state secondary schools have been selected to take part in the Department for Education pilot scheme to extend the teaching of Latin.

Baroness Barran: The department intends to run a Latin Excellence Programme, commencing in September 2022 with the objective of improving pupils’ attainment via increased access to, and uptake of, GCSE in Latin, whilst contributing to pupils’ broader Classics education. State-funded schools in England teaching key stage 3 and key stage 4 pupils rated either Good or Outstanding by Ofsted and with an EBacc entry of or above the national entry rate (40%) will be eligible to apply for the programme. The procurement process for this programme is still ongoing, therefore no state secondary schools have yet been able to apply to take part in the programme. The application process to join the programme is expected to be announced soon.

School Leaving

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what statistics they keep of the outcomes for pupils after they leave school; and who is responsible for maintaining these records.

Baroness Barran: The department publishes statistics on pupils’ sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destinations in the year after they have left either key stage 4 or 16-18 study in England. Pupils must have six months of activity in a destination to be recorded as a sustained destination. Pupils who have some activity but do not meet the criteria for a sustained destination are recorded as having not sustained their destination. If there is no data available on a pupil they are record as activity not captured.Various national administrative sources are used such as datasets from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and school census data to ascertain whether a pupil has sustained activity at a destination.The latest publication and data can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-destination-measures and https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/16-18-destination-measures. This data relates to pupils who left school in 2018/19 and follows their activity in 2019/20. More information on the methodology used can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/key-stage-4-destination-measures-methodology and https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/16-18-destination-measures-methodology.

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners' Release: Females

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by St Martin in the Fields, London Prisons Mission and Prison Reform TrustSafe Homes for Women Leaving Prison, published in October 2020; and what steps they intend to take in response.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: We welcome the findings from the Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison report. Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision, including female offenders, is released from prison homeless.To achieve this, HM Prison and Probation Service launched a new transitional accommodation service providing up to 12 weeks’ accommodation and support for those leaving prison at risk of homelessness. The service was initially launched last July in five probation areas in England. From 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. This includes expanding the transitional accommodation service across England and Wales to support the thousands of people who leave prison each year without accommodation and provide improved access to employment support through rolling out dedicated employment leads in all resettlement prisons, as announced in the Prison Strategy White Paper published in December 2021.The transitional accommodation takes account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, with accommodation provision dedicated to single gender usage as required.

Courts: Fines

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were unemployed at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Universal Credit at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Income-related Employment and Support Allowance at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Child Tax Credit at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Housing Benefit at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Income Support at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Working Tax Credit at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Pension Credit at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: We do not centrally hold data on offender income and financial circumstances, and the data requested for each question cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost. Fines are means-tested. The value of a fine must reflect the seriousness of the offence and, when setting a fine, the court must take into account the financial circumstances of the offender, insofar as these can be assessed.

Powers of Attorney

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask Her Majesty's Government when responses to the consultation on modernising lasting powers of attorney will be published.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: The Ministry of Justice is in the process of analysing the responses it received to the consultation on modernising lasting powers of attorney. We intend to publish a response in spring 2022.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Finance

Lord Wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish annual totals from the information collected by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service in the MC100 Statements of assets and other financial circumstances for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: There are no plans to publish information from the MC100 statement of assets and other financial circumstances form. Fines are means-tested. The value of a fine must reflect the seriousness of the offence and, when setting a fine, the court must take into account the financial circumstances of the offender, insofar as these can be assessed.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Bahrain: Detainees

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Bahrain regarding the reported detention of six children without clear justification or allowing their parents to be present during questioning.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We welcome the entry into force in August 2021 of the Restorative Justice Law for Children and support Bahraini Government efforts to ensure the law is fully and effectively implemented. It would not be appropriate to comment further on the specific case mentioned while it is sub judice. We encourage those with concerns to raise them directly with the relevant oversight bodies.

Bahrain: Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of claims in the Politics Home article, ‘Bahrain-Linked “Think Tank” Accused Of Trying To "Silence" MPs and Peers Raising Human Rights Abuses’, published on 18 January, that the Gulf Centre of Strategic Studies has made undue attempts to dissuade Members of Parliament from raising concerns over Bahrain’s human rights record; and what meetings, if any, they have had with representatives from the Centre.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We draw on a wide variety of sources in making an assessment of Bahrain's human rights record. Our annual Human Rights Report, published last in July 2021 contains our most recent assessment - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2020. We have no record of meeting the Gulf Centre of Strategic Studies.

Israel: Palestinians

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the booklet by the Balfour ProjectIsrael/Palestine: in search of the rule of law, published in May 2021; and what assessment they have made of the content of that booklet in helping them develop their policy for that region.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK remains committed to making progress towards a two-state solution. We believe that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between Israelis and Palestinians, supported by the international community.

Middle East: Christianity

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current threats, if any, to the Christian presence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. The UK condemns all attacks on the right to freedom of religion or belief. Israel is a thriving democracy, and has made clear its commitment to freedom of religion. We encourage the Israeli Government to do all it can to uphold the values of equality for all enshrined in its laws. The UK regularly engages with Christian leaders in Israel and OPTs and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Abduljalil al-Singace

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by (1) Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 23 November 2021 (HL3907), (2) the Minister for Europe on 19 November 2021 (UIN72473), and (3) the Minister for Europe on 9 December 2021 (UIN85206), for what reason they will not disclose the most recent date or dates when they raised the case of Dr Abduljalil al-Singace with their counterparts in Bahrain.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We continue to monitor and regularly raise the cases of Dr Abduljalil al-Singace and others with the Bahraini Government as well as with the independent oversight bodies. We encourage those with concerns to raise them directly with the relevant oversight bodies.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: CCTV

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether theMinistry of Defence has made any use of (1) Dahua Technology, and (2) Hikvision, cameras.

Baroness Goldie: As has been the case under successive Governments, it is not Defence policy to comment on our security arrangements on national security grounds (including details on which products or services are used).

Department for Work and Pensions

Pensioners: Cost of Living

Lord Sikka: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect the increase in the energy price cap will have on individuals in receipt of the state pension.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: No assessment has been made. This country has never paid our pensioners more. This year, we will spend over £129 billion on the State Pension and benefits for pensioners in Great Britain. The Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Act 2020 raised the State Pension by 2.5% from April 2021 although CPI was 0.5% and earnings were negative. From April, the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension will be around £720 more in 2022/23 than if it had been up-rated by prices since 2010. That’s a rise of over £2,300 in cash terms. In addition, around 1.4 million eligible pensioners across Great Britain receive around £5 billion annually in Pension Credit, which tops up their retirement income and act as a passport to other financial help, such as support with housing costs, council tax, heating bills and a free TV licence for those over 75. Cold weather payments are payable to those in receipt of Pension Credit and the warm home discount - a rebate of £140 on a customer’s energy bill - is available to those in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit. From 2022/23 the eligibility criteria for the warm home discount scheme will be extended to a greater number of Pension Credit customers and the payment increased to £150. Customers of State Pension age are also entitled to an annual Winter Fuel payment worth up to £300. This winter we will pay over 11m pensioners a winter fuel payment at an annual cost of £2bn which is a significant contribution to winter fuel bills. The Chancellor’s announcement on 3 February of a package of support to help households with rising energy bills, worth £9.1 billion in 2022-23, will also be available to eligible pensioners. Further support for pensioners includes free eye tests and NHS prescriptions worth around £900m every year and free bus passes worth £1bn every year.

Home Office

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks byLord Sharpe of Epsom on 8 February (HL Deb cols 1553-1554),why the figures on the number of migrants crossing the English Channel will in future be published on a quarterly, rather than daily basis.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Home Office are currently considering advice from the independent UK Statistics Authority to make sure statistics on small boats crossing are published in an orderly way, which provides a clear picture of the small boats issue to the public. The Home Office has recently announced its intention to publish a quarterly statistics release on irregular migration to the UK, including the number of people arriving across the Channel in small boats. The first release will be on 24 February 2022. This will ensure regular statistics are released in an orderly, transparent way that is accessible to everyone, meeting the principles set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. No final decisions have been made in relation to the release of small boat numbers, beyond the quarterly publication, and further details will be confirmed in due course. In the meantime, the Home Office continues to provide these to journalists on days where we see arrivals.

Electric Scooters: Road Traffic Offences

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering: To ask Her Majesty's Government, for each of the six months from August 2021, how many fines or penalties have been issued for inappropriate use of (1) rental e-scooters, and (2) privately owned e-scooters.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The information requested is not held.

Asylum: Islamic State

Baroness Cox: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many victims of Daesh have been granted asylum in the UK since 2014; and how many of these belonged to religious minorities in the countries they left.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Home Office cannot identify how many victims of Daesh have been granted asylum in the UK since 2014 nor can we identify how many of these victims belonged to a religious minority. This data could only be obtained at disproportionate cost because it would require a manual search through individual records.However, the Home Office publishes figures on the number of people who have been granted asylum in the UK. This data can be found attached. table for granted asylum (docx, 27.7KB)

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

National Holocaust Memorial Centre and Learning Service

Lord Vinson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reconsider their decision to grant planning permission for the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens; and what assessment they made of (1) the appropriateness of this location for such a museum, and (2) the importance of using the area around Parliament to tell the story of democracy rather than totalitarianism.

Lord Vinson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require as a condition of funding that the focus of the proposed museum to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens be broadened to include all acts of persecution and genocide by totalitarian regimes, such as those that took place in Russia and China under communist regimes in the 20th century.

Lord Greenhalgh: The Government is fully committed to the construction of the new national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre at Victoria Tower Gardens. The new Holocaust Memorial will be the national focal point to honour the 6 million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered in the Holocaust, and other victims of Nazi persecution, including Roma, gay and disabled people. The co-located Learning Centre will also focus on subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Treasury

Red Diesel: Fraud

Lord Rogan: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Penn on 8 February (HL5672), whether HMRC intends to start recording the fraudulent use of red diesel in the UK as a specific offence when the law for the use rebated fuel changes on 1 April; and if not, why not.

Baroness Penn: HMRC records all occasions where rebated fuel is found being used in circumstances not permitted by legislation. As detections of misuse are confirmed by the formal identification of Government markers and dyes, some of which are common to all types of rebated fuel including those used in EU states, it is not possible to identify specific red diesel offences. Samples analysed by HMRC can contain a mixture of these markers and dyes, therefore, it is often not possible to identify misuse by rebated fuel type.

NatWest

Lord Sikka: To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the statement published by the US Department of Justice on 21 December 2021 after the guilty plea by NatWest for various fraud schemes in the markets for US Treasury securities and futures contracts, what plans they have to commission an independent inquiry into the bank’s operations.

Lord Sikka: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the US Department of Justice’s fine of $35 million on NatWest Markets Plc for “spoofing” on 21 December 2021, what plans they have to investigate the prevalence of similar practices in the UK.

Baroness Penn: ‘Spoofing’ is the practice of placing orders in financial markets with the intention of cancelling said orders and attempting to profit from any resulting price changes. It is prohibited under the UK Market Abuse Regulation, as it gives false or misleading signals as to the supply or demand of a financial instrument. In the UK, the FCA is responsible for identifying and preventing market abuse, and taking enforcement action against persons committing market abuse where appropriate. The FCA actively monitors UK markets for potential market manipulation, and any investigation into that activity would be conducted by the regulator. UK trading venues and persons professionally arranging or executing transactions who are located in the UK are required to have arrangements in place to monitor, detect, and report such market manipulation to the FCA.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property

The Earl of Dundee: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatplans they have to sign the Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property, adopted on 3 May 2017.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: The Government is committed to protecting cultural property and preventing the illicit trade in cultural property. The UK has a strong record of identifying stolen and unlawfully removed cultural property and returning it to its rightful owners. Existing UK law provides an effective framework within which to do so.We have no current plans to sign the Council of Europe Convention on Offences Relating to Cultural Property.